


the day before the world ends

by krystallisert



Category: Mystic Messenger (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, F/M, Spoilers for everything, x-post from tumblr
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-24
Updated: 2016-10-24
Packaged: 2018-08-24 10:24:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,403
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8368744
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/krystallisert/pseuds/krystallisert
Summary: She makes him cringe – every time she fixes him with that smile of hers or offers to do something nice for him, Saeran feels like he’s going to burst out of his skin.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Told myself I'd post this on my ao3 as well if it got over 100 notes on tumblr. I've avoided posting my MM stuff here because I'm still experimenting and getting used to the characters, but eeehhh. It's short and the format fits tumblr better, but still. 
> 
> Title came from the newest (at least at the time) chapter of the manga Horimiya.

“What would you do if the world ended tomorrow?” she asks, peeking at him from behind the book in her hands. There's been an uncomfortable silence surrounding them for the last forty-five and a half minutes (not that Saeran's been counting), ever since Saeyoung left to 'go to the store'. Saeran makes air quotes in his head, because he knows that his twin brother doesn't go to the store – _she_ does – and that if he did, he would take ten minutes and return with a plastic bag filled with energy drinks and an insane amount of snacks.  
  
No, Saeyoung isn't at the store. See, the redheaded hacker has this idea that Saeran needs to be on better terms with his fiance. They've been sharing an apartment ever since Saeran got away from the hospital (six months, three weeks and five days ago), and Saeran can still count his conversations with the brunette on one hand.  
  
It's not her fault, of course, Saeran just doesn't know what to _say_. Saeyoung wants the two of them to bond, but what on earth could they have to bond over? _Could you pass the salt? Oh, and do you remember when I tried to kidnap you and almost ruined your life?_ The thought makes him cringe. _She_ makes him cringe – every time she fixes him with that smile of hers or offers to do something nice for him, Saeran feels like he's going to burst out of his skin. He's so _ashamed;_ she's this constant reminder that he's a failure. She and Saeyoung both; so innocent despite what they've been through, so optimistic and nice and they just fit together so well, so easily that it makes Saeran want to throw up.  
  
There's this darkness in Saeran that dwindles at times, but never strays too far from his mind. He has come to terms with having been brainwashed, with the cause he'd been living for for the past years being nothing but lies and insanity, but sometimes his mind wanders to places he'd rather leave unexplored. He's nothing like his brother or his future sister-in-law, and he doesn't fit in in their ragtag group of unlikely friends.  
  
“Saeran,” she calls, and his heart jumps out of his chest, as it always does when she calls his name in that soft, melodic voice of hers. He swears his face heats up, and he struggles to look straight at her partially hidden face. Behind the book, a heavy, brown tome that looks more like it belongs in a dusty, forgotten library than in the hands of a young, pretty girl, he knows her lips are quirking up at the ends. It seems like she's always smiling, effortlessly and earnestly and sometimes even – If Saeyoung is making a joke or talking about his latest prank – mischievously.  
  
He doesn't respond, her earlier question almost forgotten for the erratic beating of his poor heart. It doesn't phase her the slightest, after all she must be used to his standoffish behavior towards her by now, so she just repeats the question. Saeran wonders if his brother has asked her to engage him when they're alone (why else would she try to talk with him), and the thought makes him uncomfortable.  
  
“Why would the world end tomorrow?” he asks at last, deciding to be evasive. It comes naturally, and truthfully he doesn't want to answer the question. A few months ago, he'd expected her to roll her eyes and leave him be if he didn't indulge her in conversation, but he knows her better now and isn't surprised when she instead hums softly and puts the book down on the table.  
“A meteor, maybe?” she says, laughter laced into the tones of her voice, and Saeran knows she's somehow having fun with his question. “Oh! Or maybe some crazy dictator declares a new world war!”  
  
It's no wonder she and Saeyoung ended up together, Saeran thinks; they both have the same strange sense of humor. Always able to bounce off the other's crazy ramblings, never afraid of taking the joke too far. Saeran doesn't even know how to make a joke.  
  
“Anyways, it's only hypothetical, Saeran! Don't get too caught up in the details,” she says this with a wink that makes his face heat up, and a knowing smile that tells him she's teasing. She does that, sometimes, teases him like he's some lifelong friend of hers, someone she's got inside jokes and good memories with, when she should look at him like he's a criminal.  
  
“What would you do, then?” he intends the question to sound disinterested and snappy, but his feet are jelly and his voice is uneven, if she notices she doesn't mention it. Instead she puts a finger to her lips and furrows her brows, making a big show of deep contemplation.  
  
“I dunno,” she mutters at last, suddenly serious and solemn. “the thought of having just a day left with you and your brother makes my heart break, y'know?” His heart flip-flips at the seriousness of her voice, reading between lines that aren't even there. The silence stretches out and makes Saeran squirm, and when he opens his mouth it's only to clear the tension (not to coax a smile out her her, not at all).  
  
“It's only hypothetical.”  
  
She laughs. Of course she does, he knew she would, that's why he- no. No. He stops himself from completing that particular train of thought. It's too much of a dangerous path to walk down, and he should know better than to read too far into her words.  
“You're right, I should take my own advice, huh?” she shakes her head, eyes crinkling at the ends with her smile. “If I have to answer right now, I guess I'd take you out for ice-cream.”  
  
The answer hits him in the stomach like a punch, and for a second, Saeran forgets how to breathe. He knows he hasn't mentioned it to her, so his brother must have told, and he'll remember to scold Saeyoung for it later. For now, all he can do is focus on not blushing like an idiot and stop opening and closing his mouth like a fish. So like her, to be able to surprise him even when he thought he'd mapped out all her strange and unique behavior. So like her, to turn him speechless like that. Of all the things he'd expected her to say, that was not one of them.  
  
Saeran always suspects that the people in his brother's life treats him kindly out of politeness or pity. With her, it's not quite that simple, is it?  
  
“Wh-what?” he stutters out at last, and curses his own lack of eloquence.  
  
“You're cooped up here all day, it would be so sad if you couldn't see the sun and feel the fresh air at least once,” she elaborates, and Saeran feels his heart swell with the knowledge that she's thinking, really thinking, of him. It shouldn't, it _can't_ , but inexplicably, it does.  
  
“I,” he begins, not knowing what he's going to say or how to continue the sentence. His mind is shattered and he can't hear his thoughts anymore.  
  
Thankfully, her phone chooses that moment to vibrate loudly in her pocket, and she takes it out with a muttered apology. The way her face lights up tells Saeran his brother is heading home. It brings him back to reality, makes him eager to leave the room, the house, the earth.  
“Saeyoung will be home soon,” she says once she puts her phone back in her pocket. “I should get dinner started.”  
  
She gets up to leave the living room, book forgotten on the table and Saeran's head filled with stupid fantasies. He _doesn't like talking to her_ , he tells himself bitterly, angrily, as he watches her retreating back. He wishes he could block her out, that he could leave his brother's apartment and never look back.  
  
“Is there anything you want?”  
  
The lump in his throat makes it heart to breathe, makes him dizzy and clouds his mind.  
  
_Yeah_ , he thinks, heart heavy and unbidden tears prickling at his eyes. _There is._  
As she stares at him from the doorway, leaning towards the frame of the door with her usual smile playing with her lips, Saeran knows the answer to her earlier question.  
  
_If the world ended tomorrow, I'd tell her I love her._

 


End file.
